"Be joyful always; pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians
5 v 16-18
The History of the School
The very existence of the school is an answer to prayer in bricks and mortar. The school started after an anonymous donor offered to loan the money to purchase a recently vacated Victorian school building in Staverton, near Trowbridge.
Some 20 years earlier, Christians in Bradford on Avon, a nearby town, had been praying about the provision of Christian education, little realising how the Lord would answer their prayers in His own time. The school now has over 50 pupils and in a way has become a victim of its own success the buildings are now bursting at the seams, figuratively at least.
If you would like to know the story in more detail, there is a chapter about Emmaus in a book called "The Love of God in the Classroom". It is published by Christian Focus and is available from Amazon.co.uk
The New Classroom
First thing to say is that it is all Gods doing this is his school and it is he who has provided every penny, every person, every idea, every gift and skill that has gone in to building the classroom. But where did it all begin?
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Ideas and work on the classroom began almost five years ago in early 2004. Lots of discussions involving governors/Miriam and Dale Roberts (architect) took place and various revisions were made up to Feb 2006.
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On 30th May 2006, planning permission was granted and in June, the governors instructed Dale to proceed to tender.
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In Feb 2007, it was hoped to carry out the complete construction programme from July to Dec of 2007. But that was soon found to be an unrealistic expectation.
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Other courses of action including land swaps and purchasing a different building were investigated but were not considered to be viable options.
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In June 2007, it was decided to proceed with classroom 1 only, with July to Sept 2008 being the projected construction time.
In January 2007, the building fund stood at just £7,600, looking then at a target of £80,000. One year on, the figure was up to £45,000, but that was still only just over half way. On the day of the 10th anniversary celebrations in July this year, we discovered that as we were a fee-paying school, we would be liable for VAT and so another £14,000 was added to the target, taking it to over £96,000. This was a test of faith for everyone concerned we had stepped out in faith, trusting the Lord to provide. But would he? Simple answer is Yes he would!
In the fund-raising process, we did have some amazing answers to prayer but then all answers to prayer are amazing!
Perhaps one of the most wonderful was the Three Peaks Challenge. Phil Lucas one of our parents suggested doing the Three Peaks in June of this year. He led a group of 6 climbers and 1 driver and the 3 peaks were covered in just under 28 hours without a cross word or a blister, though the group did get a bit lost on the top of Scafell Pike! £7,000 was raised from well over 200 individual sponsors.
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One grandmother of a pupil gave her winter heating allowance to the school.
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One donor (a colleague of one of the parents) was selling his house and gave Emmaus £300 from the proceeds.
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The Andrew Anderson Trust was approached no response. However, a personal letter to Andrew himself who is known to a number of people involved with the school produced a gift of £10,000, still our biggest single donation. (Two other trusts also contributed).
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A Dutch student who came and worked here for three months last year when she went back to Holland cut peoples hair and gave the proceeds to the school over £600!
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An article about the schools 10th Anniversary celebrations in July recently appeared in Evan Times and an anonymous donor sent in £500.
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Gift Aid a tremendous blessing, could contribute £10,000 to the final sum. Blessing we undervalue in this country. Christians in Muslim and Marxist countries would be staggered to hear of a government that gives back tax to Christian organisations we take it for granted.
We are also extremely grateful to local churches especially Grace Church, Westerleigh, Bradford on Avon Bap Church, Good News Melksham, Colerne Evangelical Church & Penknap Church Westbury.
Many many parents, relations and friends have also given sacrificially and it has been extremely humbling to see God move in this way.